Successors warrant a closer look

With all the controversy swirling around former and current governors such as Eliot Spitzer of New York, Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Sarah Palin of Alaska, it’s becoming clear that voters ought to be paying more attention to candidates for lieutenant governor.

The July 3 announcement by Palin that she’ll be stepping down as governor, combined with the continued possibility that Sanford will leave his post following his acknowledgment of an extramarital affair, provides merely the latest evidence that we are in the midst of a frenzy of gubernatorial musical chairs.

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Earlier this year, Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office amid federal corruption charges. Three other completed or pending gubernatorial resignations were prompted by senior appointments in the Obama administration: Janet Napolitano of Arizona, who was named homeland security secretary; Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, who was named Health and Human Services secretary; and Jon Huntsman of Utah, who is awaiting Senate confirmation as ambassador to China.

If the number of switches in such a short period isn’t unprecedented, it’s at least substantial by historical standards, according to the National Lieutenant Governors Association. And the recent track record of gubernatorial vacancies makes it hard to imagine a midstream gubernatorial transition going well.

Spitzer’s successor, David Paterson, has seen his approval ratings plunge to around 20 percent. Sanford’s potential successor, Andre Bauer, has been stopped for speeding multiple times, and some South Carolina politicos have gone so far as to urge Sanford, despite his baggage, to complete his term rather than hand over the reins to Bauer. And the attempt to remove Blagojevich during a federal investigation all but paralyzed Illinois for weeks earlier this year.

Still, transfers of state power in recent years have, more often than not, been straightforward and smooth — especially when they are not instigated by allegations of sex, corruption or abuse of office. In many cases, the lieutenant governor is supremely qualified to be governor.

When Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns left to become agriculture secretary in 2005, residents of the Cornhusker State got a successor, Dave Heineman, who had been seasoned not just during his tenure as lieutenant governor but earlier as state treasurer and as a city councilman. He adapted so quickly that he managed to defeat legendary football coach and former Rep. Tom Osborne in the GOP primary after less than two years in office.